{"id":693,"date":"2021-11-19T05:31:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T04:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2021\/11\/19\/latinx-files-facebooks-latinx-disinformation-problem-los-angeles-times\/"},"modified":"2021-11-19T05:31:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-19T04:31:00","slug":"latinx-files-facebooks-latinx-disinformation-problem-los-angeles-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2021\/11\/19\/latinx-files-facebooks-latinx-disinformation-problem-los-angeles-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Latinx Files: Facebook&#039;s Latinx disinformation problem &#8211; Los Angeles Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"cfbc967f0983488262956e73eca9483a\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3859091246952232\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- blok -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3859091246952232\" data-ad-slot=\"1334354390\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s no secret that Facebook has a <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/outlook\/2021\/10\/28\/misinformation-spanish-facebook-social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">misinformation problem in Spanish and English<\/a>, but just how much did the company know about how  that disinformation was spreading in Latinx communities? According to <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/technology\/story\/2021-11-16\/facebook-struggled-with-disinformation-targeted-at-latinos-leaked-documents-show\">a troubling new report<\/a> from my colleagues Brian Contreras and Maloy Moore, it turns out Facebook knew a lot more than it let on.<br \/>\u201cFacebook has not been transparent at all,\u201d Jacobo Licona, a disinformation researcher at Equis Labs, told The Times. Also, he said, the company \u201chas not been cooperative with lawmakers or Latinx-serving organizations\u201d working to combat its spread.<br \/>The article highlights how the company, which also owns social platforms Instagram and WhatsApp, repeatedly stonewalled Latino-centric advocacy groups, even after Facebook\u2019s own employees were ringing the alarm internally, according to documents made public by whistleblower Frances Haugen. Among the issues employees flagged were possible voting suppression and the discouraging of Latinxs from filling out the census form.<br \/>The Latinx experience chronicled<br \/>Get the Latinx Files newsletter for stories that capture the multitudes within our communities.<br \/>         You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.       <br \/>What\u2019s troubling is the company hasn\u2019t really said how it plans to fix the spread of viral misinformation in the Latinx community. In June, a group of senators and representatives <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lujan.senate.gov\/press-releases\/lujan-klobuchar-cardenas-lead-colleagues-urging-tech-ceos-to-combat-spanish-language-disinformation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote a letter<\/a> expressing \u201cconcerns regarding the increasing rate of Spanish and other non-English language disinformation.\u201d<br \/>\u201cWe received a response from Facebook, and it was really more of the same \u2014 no concrete, direct answers to any of our questions,\u201d said a spokesperson for Rep. Tony C\u00e1rdenas (D-Pacoima), one of the signatories.<br \/>Even worse is the fact that Facebook, which has now rebranded to Meta, <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/21\/technology\/zuckerberg-facebook-project-amplify.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has pivoted to a more defensive approach<\/a> when in comes to addressing controversies.<br \/><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/newsletter\/2021-09-02\/latinx-files-tacos-veracruz-all-natural-latinx-files\">Back in September, I made a snide comment<\/a> about how you should be concerned that Mark Zuckerberg was going to be a key player in building out the metaverse, the virtual reality version of the internet that looks to be our future. But I also meant it. Facebook has already staked a claim. That should be concerning to you.<br \/>After all, what makes you think this company will be adept at dealing with all the problems that will surely arise with the advent of this new technology? What indication have you gotten from Facebook that it would even care?<br \/><i>Today\u2019s episode of The Times podcast, hosted by Gustavo Arellano, focuses on disinformation on social media and how it affects Latinxs. You can <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/podcasts\/story\/2021-11-18\/the-times-podcast-latinos-social-media-disinformation\">listen to it here<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n<p>Consider subscribing to the Los Angeles Times<br \/>Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. <u><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/subscriptions\/digital-only.html?pid_campaigns=8600_MTRDigitalWB2,8601_MTRDigitalWB2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Become a subscriber<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n<p><i>The Los Angeles Times employs more than 60 Latinx journalists. One of the goals of this newsletter is for you to meet them all. This week, we highlight technology reporter Brian Contreras. Here\u2019s what Brian has to say, beginning with an incident from a few years back: <\/i><br \/>My cousins and I are sitting in a bedroom in the Miami suburbs, and they\u2019re speaking Spanglish, and I\u2019m not \u2014 because I speak English, but I don\u2019t speak Spanish, and Spanish is \u2026 well, it\u2019s half of Spanglish.<br \/>And for whatever reason, they\u2019re all taking turns complimenting themselves \u2014 saying \u201cI\u2019m so guapo\u201d or whatever, that sort of thing, which sounds fake until you remember that we\u2019re all, like, 13, and 13-year-old boys will say stuff like \u201cI\u2019m so guapo\u201d without a hint of irony \u2014 and I\u2019m feeling left out.<br \/>So I decide to wing it, which means whipping out that classic non-Spanish-speaker trick of taking an English word, adding an \u2018o\u2019 to the end and praying that the meaning carries over. Except the adjective I go with is \u2018cool,\u2019 which in my very<i> <\/i>loose attempt at a translation becomes \u201ccool-o.\u201d<br \/>Which, as my cousins explain to me once they\u2019ve finally stopped laughing, is not how you say that you\u2019re cool in Spanish. It actually means something very different.<br \/>Look \u2014 I won\u2019t pretend that my personal embarrassment is the worst thing a language gap has ever led to (an argument could be made for top 10). But speaking Spanish is obviously a big part of many Latinos\u2019 identities, and I\u2019ve always felt a little weird that it\u2019s not part of mine. Even when I took Spanish classes in high school as some sort of half-hearted attempt to \u201cget in touch with my heritage,\u201d I just wound up sitting in the back row with the Anglo kids, desperately trying to remember the difference between a preterite and an imperfect conjugation.<br \/>Hell, I can\u2019t even roll my r\u2019s! When I try to do the Cardi B \u201cokurrr\u201d thing, it sounds like I\u2019m choking on wet bread.<br \/>That\u2019s why I found it a little reassuring to discover, while working on my new story about Facebook struggling to handle <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/technology\/story\/2021-11-16\/facebook-struggled-with-disinformation-targeted-at-latinos-leaked-documents-show\">misinformation targeted at Latino users<\/a>, that that misinformation spreads in both Spanish <i>and <\/i>English.<br \/>I mean, sure, yes \u2014 there\u2019s a widespread and ongoing crisis of lies and conspiracy theories being pumped into Latino communities over social media. It\u2019s not ideal. But on the plus side? The people spreading that misinformation are doing some of it in English! Latinos who don\u2019t speak Spanish can still get targeted with Latino-focused misinformation!<br \/>In some roundabout way, it\u2019s a rebuke of my insecurities about not being \u201cLatino enough.\u201d And I think that\u2019s pretty culo.<br \/>\u2014 We\u2019re in the midst of World Cup qualifying season, which means there\u2019s been a lot of wonderful stories written about the beautiful game. The latest example is this piece written <u><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/en\/202111\/el_salvador\/25847\/Salvadoran-Soccer-Team-a-California-Export.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">by Nelson Rauda for El Faro<\/a><\/u> on the Salvadoran national soccer team and the fact that many of La Selecta\u2019s players are U.S.-born. From Rauda\u2019s report:<br \/><i>A score of twenty-somethings spent the first half of 2021 memorizing the anthem. Unlike their fellow countrymen, they didn\u2019t learn it as kids because they weren\u2019t born in El Salvador. Some of them hadn\u2019t even set foot in the country. Some don\u2019t even speak Spanish. And yet, they\u2019re at the center of the collective catharsis and hope, because this year they are wearing La Selecta\u2019s blue.<\/i><br \/>The thing I love about this story is that it gets to the core of what those people who aren\u2019t fans don\u2019t understand: It\u2019s more than just a game.<br \/>It\u2019s more than just bragging rights. Belonging to a diaspora often requires you to find bridges that connect you to that which was left behind. It\u2019s been <u><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/soccer\/worldcup\/la-sp-world-cup-fathers-day-mexico-20180616-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">my own personal experience<\/a><\/u> that soccer is one of the better ways to do just that. I hate to be corny, but Dani Rojas isn\u2019t completely wrong. Sometimes, f\u00fatbol really is life.<br \/>\u2014 The Harvard Crimson, the oldest college newspaper in the country, has elected its first Latinx president: Raquel Coronell Uribe. Coronell Uribe appears to be following in her parents\u2019 footsteps. She is the daughter of Daniel Coronell, the former president of Univision News, and Mar\u00eda Cristina Uribe, a former TV news anchor and journalist in Colombia. For more, <u><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/latino\/harvard-crimson-almost-150-years-old-names-first-hispanic-president-rcna5438\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">read this story by Nicole Acevedo of NBC News<\/a><\/u>.<br \/>\u2014 Spanish singer Rosal\u00eda and Canadian crooner the Weeknd are LARPing as Latinxs in <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/music\/story\/2021-11-11\/rosalia-the-weeknd-la-fama\">\u201cLa Fama,\u201d a bachata<\/a> inspired by the former\u2019s visit to the Dominican Republic. I\u2019m very much looking forward to the Music Academy renaming their award the \u201cHispanic Grammys\u201d so they can give this song a trophy. Just kidding. They\u2019re going to give them one anyway.<br \/>\u2014 Speaking of actual Latinx artists, my colleague Suzy Exposito recently <u><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/music\/story\/2021-11-17\/rauw-alejandro-todo-de-ti-rosalia\">profiled Rauw Alejandro<\/a><\/u>, who\u2019s poised to be the next big thing if he already isn\u2019t. Alejandro\u2019s \u201cVice Versa\u201d album has been on heavy rotation at my house ever since it came out in June. if you haven\u2019t, check out the music video for \u201cTodo de Ti,\u201d which Suzy rightfully described in the L.A. Times\u2019 internal Latino Slack channel (yes, of course we have one) as giving off \u201cmajor Latino Xanadu vibes.\u201d<br \/><b>\u2014 The best thing on the Latinternet: <\/b>Benito Antonio Mart\u00ednez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny, was recently a guest on \u201cThe Daily Show.\u201d During the Q&amp;A, host Trevor Noah fawned over El Conejo Malo\u2019s world domination \u2014 he was the most streamed artist on Spotify in 2020 \u2014 noting that he did it without feeling the need to cross over. The Puerto Rican star in turn responded with the following:<br \/><i>\u201cWhy would I have to change? Nobody asks a gringo artist to change. This is who I am. This is my music. This is my culture. If you don\u2019t like it, don\u2019t listen to me. If you like it, you know &#8230;\u201d<\/i><br \/>I want you to read those words again. Memorize them and chant them to yourself. Make it your mantra. I\u2019m not a fan of the term \u201cunapologetic,\u201d especially when it comes to describing Latinxs (in my mind, it\u2019s been stripped of all meaning and has become nothing more than a buzzword on pitch decks), but in this case I\u2019ll make an exception. Yes, be unapologetic of who you are. You, after all, are the future, so why try to conform into the past?<br \/>You can watch the whole <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8ilaxXnPKkM&amp;t=2s&amp;ab_channel=TheDailyShowwithTrevorNoah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bad Bunny interview here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/sarameiwang\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sara Mei-Yuen<\/a> Wang is a Mexican Chinese American graphic designer raised in San Diego and now living in busy Los Angeles. Her <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/mercadostand.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">craft shop<\/a> and illustration work pulls from her childhood experience and explores what it means to be hyphenated, culturally. <br \/>\u201cI often imagine both sets of ancestors, intimidating and unimpressed as they watch over this particular branch of the family tree. A hypothetical mixture of a Buddhist and Catholic afterlife would give them front row seats to see their descendant absolutely tank her high school Spanish quizzes and get heartburn if she eats enchiladas after precisely 7 p.m.,\u201d Wang says. <br \/>Growing up with a Catholic Mexican mother who insisted her daughters attend Mass every Sunday, Wang often studied the church\u2019s stained glass windows lining the church\u2019s walls, which inspired the style of her piece. \u201cI wanted to show vignettes of my life and those of the people who bring clarity to who I am and where I come from. My piece focuses on the old memories of road-tripping in the winter to visit my family in south Phoenix.<br \/>\u201cEvery year like clockwork, my grandmother would greet us with giant platos of food, scolding us that we were too skinny and way too pale. After she passed, we started staying at T\u00edo Macario\u2019s house, where he would bring all the birds\u2019 cages in from outside so they wouldn\u2019t get too cold at night, filling the living room with color and keeping us company during our visit. At some point, I would inevitably be wrapped up in some animal themed cobija as the adults gossiped and caught up on each other\u2019s lives. Although it might not be everyone\u2019s story, it is part of mine and I am glad to be able to share a piece of it with you.\u201d<br \/><i>Are you a Latinx artist? We want your help telling our stories. Send us your pitches for illustrations, comics, GIFs and more! Email our art director at martina.ibanezbaldor@latimes.com.<\/i><br \/>I\u2019ll be taking the next two weeks off, but that doesn\u2019t mean the Latinx Files won\u2019t be delivered to your in-box during that period. Starting next Thursday, we\u2019ll have back-to-back guest writers. I won\u2019t tell you who they are (it\u2019ll be a nice surprise!) or what they\u2019ll be writing about (because LOL, I don\u2019t know), but I have no doubt in my mind that it\u2019s going to be awesome.<br \/>The Latinx experience chronicled<br \/>Get the Latinx Files newsletter for stories that capture the multitudes within our communities.<br \/>         You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.       <br \/>Follow Us<br \/>Fidel Martinez writes the Latinx Files, a weekly newsletter that focuses on the American Latinx experience. He started at The Times in 2018 as an audience engagement editor, focusing on sports. Previously he worked as politics editor for Mitu, as a social storytelling producer for Fusion Media Group and content curator and managing editor for Break Media. He is a proud Tejano who will fight anyone who disparages flour tortillas.<br \/>More From the Los Angeles Times         <br \/><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\">Politics<\/a><br \/>     <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\/story\/2021-11-18\/house-vote-biden-social-spending-plan\">House to vote on Biden\u2019s social spending plan<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\">World &amp; Nation<\/a><br \/>     <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/story\/2021-11-18\/us-stock-indexes-end-mixed-as-traders-weigh-retail-earnings\">U.S. stock indexes end mixed as traders weigh retail earnings<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/tv\">Television<\/a><br \/>     <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/tv\/story\/2021-11-18\/who-killed-malcolm-x-netflix-host-abdur-rahman-muhammad\">\u2018Who Killed Malcolm X?\u2019 helped exonerate two men. 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Hello, Crypto.com Arena<\/a> <br \/>     <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2021-10-26\/which-booster-shot-should-i-get-heres-how-to-chose\">Which COVID-19 vaccine booster shot should I get? Here\u2019s how to choose<\/a> <br \/>     <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/music\/story\/2021-11-18\/harry-styles-forum-review\">Harry Styles at the Forum: A woke heartthrob for our times<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><u><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/footersubscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Subscribe for unlimited access<\/a><\/u><br \/>Follow Us<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/newsletter\/2021-11-18\/latinx-files-facebook-disinformation-problem-latinx-files\">source<\/a><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s no secret that Facebook has a misinformation problem in Spanish and English, but just how much did the company know about how that disinformation was spreading in Latinx communities? According to a troubling new report from my colleagues Brian Contreras and Maloy Moore, it turns out Facebook knew a lot more than it let [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow1sXXCw:productID":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}